Discussion
My wife ordered fitted mats for her car (against my advice)
Well they arrived, from China and as I suspected didn’t fit properly. I’ve contacted them and their first solution according to the t&c’s is to send another set, which is fair enough.
But burrowing further down amongst the highlights are classics like :- Return costs are the responsibility of the customer even if them product is faulty. And Refunds are only issued after an attempt to resolve with a free replacement. If a second replacement is declined or not possible, a 50% craftmanship and restocking fee will be deducted from the refund.
I mean these are obviously illegal under the Consumer Rights Act but what’s my course of action in the case of the replacement still not fitting? The mats are custom made which allows them to circumvent some of the conditions obviously but not them all.
Not paid by credit card unfortunately.
Drawweight said:
I mean these are obviously illegal under the Consumer Rights Act
Best of luck trying to enforce UK legislation against a Chinese based company. Yes, the legislation says even if the company is based abroad, if they are targeting UK consumers then the legislation applies, but what the legislation says and what you can practically enforce are two different things.Drawweight said:
what s my course of action in the case of the replacement still not fitting?
If the mats are custom made and they don't fit the best course of action is to bin them and source better mats from somewhere else.Jamescrs said:
I've ordered things from China before that have been sub standard and inevitably its cheaper and easier just to write it off rather than trying to return faulty items for a refund and the person in China knows that too.......
The thing is whether you "order from China" or from the UK, the product is highly likely to be made in China anyway.Mrs E was recently googling a top the likes of which she wanted so rather than go through all websites looking at all tops she googled a phrase something like "sparkly silver ladies top".
One came up on one of the "high street" retailers websites & she thought it might do so "saved" it, then carried on & came across the same top using the same pictures & the same description from temu.
The one from temu was something like £6.37, the one from the high street was something like £36.67.
Over the years I have bought millions of things & I'll bet well over 50% has been made in China.
In the last 20 years I'll bet that is more like 75%.
E-bmw said:
Jamescrs said:
I've ordered things from China before that have been sub standard and inevitably its cheaper and easier just to write it off rather than trying to return faulty items for a refund and the person in China knows that too.......
The thing is whether you "order from China" or from the UK, the product is highly likely to be made in China anyway.Mrs E was recently googling a top the likes of which she wanted so rather than go through all websites looking at all tops she googled a phrase something like "sparkly silver ladies top".
One came up on one of the "high street" retailers websites & she thought it might do so "saved" it, then carried on & came across the same top using the same pictures & the same description from temu.
The one from temu was something like £6.37, the one from the high street was something like £36.67.
Over the years I have bought millions of things & I'll bet well over 50% has been made in China.
In the last 20 years I'll bet that is more like 75%.
Drawweight said:
So does the fact that it s a UK registered company give me more rights.
No, you have the same rights under the Consumer Contracts legislation whether the company is UK based or not, because they are targeting UK consumers, website in English, prices in GBP etc.But having the rights and being able to enforce them are two different things.
And if the mats are custom made then custom made products are not covered by many of the CC rights. So then it's down to the T&C and how decent the customer service is.
As a counterpoint to your experience - 4 years ago I ordered a set of mats for my XC40 BEV. They arrived and the passenger side didn't fit. I contacted the company and after a couple of emails between us they admitted that they didn't have a template for the BEV as it was new (despite it being an option on their website), so they had sent mats for the hybrid. They offered a refund or I could send them my original Volvo mat using their returns process and they would use it as a template. A couple of weeks later my Volvo mat arrived back together with a complete set of replacement mats which fitted perfectly. That's decent service. It sounds like the company you are dealing with might be less decent but best of luck.
I bought some for my son's golf from here and they fitted perfectly even down to the holes to go over the clips on the floor to hold the front ones in place
No affiliation, just a satisfied customer
https://carmats.co.uk
No affiliation, just a satisfied customer
https://carmats.co.uk
You could try The Department for Business and Trade or The Foreign Office, however even those officials are likely to accept that the Chinese can do whatever they wish in terms of patent, copyright and customer rights are concerned. When the Chinese shut down the world s biggest companies I don t think your wife s car mats are going to figure large in World Trade.
If you resort to knock-off goods from those who are willing to supply copies then you need to accept that their suitability and quality will be 50/50 acceptable/5hit. Unfortunately your wife s car mats landed the wrong side of the odds.
By all means try to deploy the Foreign Office and subordinate government departments, but you will find the quality and observance of laws is not a priority for your supplier. They will send you the same 5hit as a replacement but do not give a damn about retaining you as a customer, there a millions upon millions who will come along attracted by prices that are 20-30% of the price of quality pucker goods.
Tell your wife she needs to get proper mats from a reasonable supplier. They ain’t connected to Chinese knock-off warehouses.
If you resort to knock-off goods from those who are willing to supply copies then you need to accept that their suitability and quality will be 50/50 acceptable/5hit. Unfortunately your wife s car mats landed the wrong side of the odds.
By all means try to deploy the Foreign Office and subordinate government departments, but you will find the quality and observance of laws is not a priority for your supplier. They will send you the same 5hit as a replacement but do not give a damn about retaining you as a customer, there a millions upon millions who will come along attracted by prices that are 20-30% of the price of quality pucker goods.
Tell your wife she needs to get proper mats from a reasonable supplier. They ain’t connected to Chinese knock-off warehouses.
2020vision said:
If you resort to knock-off goods from those who are willing to supply copies then you need to accept that their suitability and quality will be 50/50 acceptable/5hit.
Tell your wife she needs to get proper mats from a reasonable supplier. They ain t connected to Chinese knock-off warehouses.
This is part of the About Us on their website.Tell your wife she needs to get proper mats from a reasonable supplier. They ain t connected to Chinese knock-off warehouses.
Obviously you don’t expect Italian leather for 90 quid but they are very careful and there is not a single mention anywhere on the website at all where they originate from. They do however emphasise their Britishness.
Yes she was naive but I bet she’s not the first.
Anyway, communication has been excellent so far so we’ll see how they resolve it.
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